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SEATTLE (CBS Seattle/AP) — Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes acknowledges he broke a drug-free workplace rule when he brought marijuana back to his office after buying on the first day of legal sales in Washington state.

Holmes has been a big supporter of the legal marijuana law, and he says he wanted to be one of the first customers at Seattle’s Cannabis City on Tuesday to honor what he called a “tectonic shift” in policy. He says he brought the two unopened packages back to City Hall before taking them home.

The next day, the city’s personnel department issued a memo reminding employees they can’t have marijuana when they’re on official business or at city offices.

Holmes issued an apology Friday and said he volunteered to donate $3,000 to the Downtown Emergency Service Center, an organization that provides housing for alcoholic, mentally ill or otherwise vulnerable people.

“The City of Seattle is a ‘drug-free workplace’ under federal law, and our personnel rules reflect these sound workplace policies. Not only are controlled substances (like marijuana) banned from city offices, City employees cannot possess them while on City business,” Holmes said in a statement to KIRO-TV.

Dressed in a pinstripe suit last week, Holmes stood inside Seattle’s first and, for now, only licensed pot shop, Cannabis City, south of downtown. The shop was sweltering. He fanned himself with a state-produced pamphlet titled “Marijuana Use in Washington State: An Adult Consumer’s Guide.”

Holmes noted it had been quite some time since he smoked pot. He paraphrased a line from the “South Park” cartoon series: “Remember, children, there’s a time and place for everything. That place is college.”

After getting a recommendation on what strain to buy, he spent $80 on 4 grams, including $20.57 in taxes.